Comments for eco curioushttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com
For people who wonder about their stuff and its impact.Sun, 13 Dec 2015 05:59:40 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on Venison (an alternative to beef) by AussieReaderhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/venison-an-alternative-to-beef/#comment-185
Sun, 13 Dec 2015 05:59:40 +0000http://ecocurious.co.uk/?p=176#comment-185Or – if you are in Australia – kangaroo meat. Taste, texture and low-fat health benefits quite similar to venison. (It can also be bought in UK and elsewhere, but by then it has racked up airmiles – nevertheless, it is still no doubt superior to beef from Brazil)
]]>Comment on Butter vs margarine by emmahttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/butter-vs-margarine/#comment-184
Sun, 10 May 2015 07:46:05 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=137#comment-184So I changed the family over to butter a month or so ago. I’m trying to remove as many chemicals as possible from our lives. However I love the taste of butter and by virtue its harder consistency tend to spread and eat too much of it. I would like to go back to lurpak spreadable but only if it really is just butter, oil and salt. Does anyone have any information on lurpak? Thanks
]]>Comment on Butter vs margarine by Samhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/butter-vs-margarine/#comment-177
Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:44:29 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=137#comment-177I’ve just returned to butter because of all the nasty stuff in margarine and ‘olive oil’ spreads. A butter dish is actually on my shopping list to buy tomorrow ;-p
]]>Comment on Why you should eat (British rose) veal by Mini Veal Burgers | Lunchbox Doctorhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/why-you-should-eat-british-rose-veal/#comment-166
Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:34:36 +0000http://ecocurious.co.uk/?p=191#comment-166[…] fresh herbs used in the recipe. If anyone is undecided about eating veal I would urge you to read this article before making your mind up. If you still don’t like the idea then you can of course make […]
]]>Comment on Why you should eat (British rose) veal by Kester Ratcliffhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/why-you-should-eat-british-rose-veal/#comment-165
Wed, 21 Aug 2013 09:21:34 +0000http://ecocurious.co.uk/?p=191#comment-165“or organic is the best choice as it means there are much higher welfare standards”

I wish that were true, but unfortunately, there’s little or no correlation between Organic branding and actual animal welfare outcomes.

I’ve personally seen a dairy cow severely beaten with a 2m long alkythene pipe, completely unnecessarily and counter-productively, on an Organic dairy farm. Yes it was criminal animal cruelty (S.4 Animal Welfare Act, 2006), no there wasn’t a hope in hell of getting it prosecuted because there was no CCTV or multiple independent witnesses. At the same farm about a quarter of the cows had broken tails (Defra Code states manipulating sensitive body parts, including the tail, in order to force an animal to move is illegal, and breaking the tail to sensitise it forever after even more so). I won’t say where right now because it’s been investigated by the SA and hopefully resolved now.

Organic laying hen farms (for eggs) have a 3x higher than average mortality rate during production, which is mainly because they effectively ban the use of anti-parasitic medicines (the withdrawal periods are triple, and since laying hens don’t live very long anyway and the product is collected daily rather than at the end of the production lifespan, it’s not worth giving them any anti-parasitic treatments). Dying of gastrointestinal worm infestations is a horrible way to go. Since the standard withdrawal periods set by veterinary authorities are already designed to ensure there are no significant traces of any medicines remaining in animal products for human consumption by the time they’re consumed, tripling the withdrawal periods in Organic production is just an irrelevant gimmick.

The factors that really make a difference to welfare outcomes in e.g. dairy and egg production are not actually mentioned in any Soil Association standards. In free range or Organic laying hens, the most important factor is actually the design of the drainage between the outdoor range and the barn, so that the hens drop the water on their feet before they come into the barn, otherwise the bedding gets damp and becomes acidic and they get leg and breast acid-burns. Some free range and Organic farms have well designed drainage, nice dry bedding and very low rates of hock burn, but there’s basically no correlation between whether a free range egg farm is Organic or not and whether it has intelligently designed drainage to prevent high rates of hock burn.

In dairy, one important factor is the match between breed and feed. SA standards say Organic dairy feed must be no more than 40% concentrates over the year (because concentrate feeds are transported in, so higher concentrate feed levels mean higher environmental impact). The problem is that conventional high yielding holstein-friesian cows cannot possibly eat enough to maintain their health if they’re not fed high levels of concentrates, and even then they struggle. Again, some Organic dairy farms use lower yielding breeds of cows to match the lower concentrate feeding regime, but that’s not an obligatory requirement of the SA standards. Lameness is another major welfare problem in dairy farming, but the SA standards for preventing and controlling lameness are not much more than the legal minimum standards. Some Organic farmers have really good low lameness figures, but it’s not determined by their Organic standards or branding.

2006 I think the ASA judged that the Soil Association’s claims of higher animal welfare were without evidence.

I really really wish that Organic’s animal welfare claims were more reliably true. I support most of the Organic movement’s values wholeheartedly, but my problem is that they’re not doing it in practice. Utterly irrelevant points are used to create USPs to distinguish them from mainstream, I guess for marketing purposes so they can charge a premium, but the things that really matter are ignored.

]]>Comment on Milk (butter, cheese and other dairy) by johnhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/milk-butter-cheese-and-other-dairy/#comment-164
Mon, 06 May 2013 06:49:18 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=134#comment-164In fact most goats farmed in this country never go outside while the majority of cows still do. Majority farming in this country will remain non organic but pressure must be maintained to prevent excesses and encourage farmers towards welfare and eco friendly systems. Avoidance of our produce by eco conscious but small groups will do little to hurt our profits. But the alienating rhetoric of the eco consumer damages eco morale makes farmers care less about the environment not more.
]]>Comment on Why you should eat (British rose) veal by Tina Cubberleyhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/why-you-should-eat-british-rose-veal/#comment-163
Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:56:58 +0000http://ecocurious.co.uk/?p=191#comment-163This is a sickening , pathetic pretense of caring about animals – if you were realy ,truly concerned about what these creatures go through ,you would reject the whole system of animal slavery and boycott any product derived from the subjection of other sentient beings , however ‘humanely’ it was produced . Whenever you buy any animal product , you vote for slavery – you say that their lives are less important than yours, and that their freedom means nothing .
Stop nit-picking between different types of murder and educate yourself .
]]>Comment on Sustainable shelves, furniture and flooring by juliohttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/sustainable-shelves-furniture-and-flooring/#comment-162
Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:51:56 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=13#comment-162Thanks for the great blog post, I look forward to reading more from yo in the future.
]]>Comment on Buying eco clothes – what its made of by Dorotha Sagasteguihttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/buying-eco-clothes-what-its-made-of/#comment-161
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:56:17 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-161Wow, this blog is great i like studying your articles. Stay up the good paintings! You understand, many people are hunting round for this information, you could aid them greatly.
]]>Comment on Eating meat by Macqueen's of Rothesayhttps://ecocurious.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/eating-meat/#comment-149
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:04:56 +0000http://ecocurious.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-149Try real beef you will be amazed at the difference.
]]>